


If It Wasn't For You!

by thesatanistauthor



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura is a bitch, Angst, Cute, Keith sticks up for Lance, Lance nearly dies, Langst, M/M, Shiro is a sap, cuddles and shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 09:05:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12362346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesatanistauthor/pseuds/thesatanistauthor
Summary: "If it wasn't for you, Lance wouldn't have thrown himself in front of me to save me. If you had just stopped pressuring him to be like everyone else, maybe he'd be alright right now!"Allura pushes Lance too hard. Lance saves Shiro's life.





	If It Wasn't For You!

**Author's Note:**

> This makes no sense

_"If it wasn't for you, Lance wouldn't have thrown himself in front of me to save me. If you had just stopped pressuring him to be like everyone else, maybe he'd be alright right now!"_

-

Another day, another training practice. Lance was tired. They all were; especially Lance. A mixture of physical and mental exhaustion has been hindering his battle performance lately. Everyone had been hot on his heels about improving and shaping up, yet they had no clue how much they were breaking him. People can only take so much before it all gets too much. 

He knew that he would be late to breakfast. He knew the looks and sighs that he'd get when he entered late. No one seemed to care or notice about how badly he was coping with this all. Was it even worth getting up anymore? All he wanted was a break, some time to rest and be alone from everything and everyone. That, however, was anything but a possibility. 

Lance dragged himself down the halls, ready to be ignored by everyone. Maybe today he'd actually be able to get something to eat. Maybe today everyone would go easy on him. Maybe today would be okay. 

The dining hall doors hissed open, revealing a room full of laughter and chatter. It almost seemed to die out completely as he entered, looking tired and messy. Without a word, Lance sat himself down away from the others, slouched back in his seat. He was hungry but with everyone watching, he felt like he may throw up. 

"Lance, is everything okay?" The Black Paladins voice echoed from down the table, catching Lance's attention. He nodded in response, shooting Shiro a quick thumbs up. 

"There is no time to worry about that, we must get on with training. Each day the threat of the Galra grows stronger and we must be prepared in case of an attack. We never know with them." Allura's voice was stern, like she'd had enough of Lance's moping. Lance caught Shiro shake his head at her. He felt thankful that at least one person seemed to care and notice about him.

"Princess, do you not see that Lance needs a break? Look at him, he looks as if he will pass out any minute!" Shiro spoke up, trying to get the Princess to understand that maybe they all needed a break. 

"Shiro, please. Lance needs to build up his stamina. Everyone else on this team can keep working. He is just being lazy. Plus, he has the most to improve on." Allura looked mad; something no one wanted to deal with. They all knew what Allura could do when she was pissed off at them. 

Shiro looked to Lance, an apologetic look slapped on his face. He tried his hardest to get Allura to understand, but she simply could not grasp the concept of it. Lance forced a weak smile in return to Shiro. He was thankful that he tried. 

-

"Lance, watch where you're going!" Keith yelled, stumbling backwards as Lance walked into him, completely unaware of his surroundings. This training simulation was going anything but fine. Lance kept messing up, missing shots and bumping into the others, causing them to lose focus. Suddenly the bots died around them; the simulation had ended. 

"Paladins, please report to the main hall. Well done for today." Allura's voice rang over the speaker systems, signalling to them all that training was done for today. Hunk and Pidge were quick to rush off, yelling and shoving one another to see who could get there first. keith wandered them by himself, not wanting to be disturbed. Lance hadn't moved from the spot he ended in. His legs felt as if they were about to collapse under him. No matter how hard he tried, he could not move at all. 

The pounding in his head was yet another problem; the lack of food and sleep was making him ill, yet no one seemed to care enough to get him any help. Shiro started to walk away, before realising that Lance had not yet moved from his spot. he turned, a brow raised. Only seconds later, the Blue Paladin collapsed to the floor, causing Shiro to rush over, yelling out his name. 

"Lance? Lance, can you hear me?!" Shiro called, picking up Lance's weak body from the floor. He was still conscious; if it could even be called that. He was so weak and exhausted that he could not register anything around him. "Don't worry Lance, I'll get you sorted."

Shiro scooped his fellow Paladin up in his arms, enraged that the others would let something like this happen to one of their teammates. If this had been Shiro, would the situation have been any different?

The two wandered back down to the main hall, where the others were patiently waiting for them. Allura was getting impatient, the other three could see that. She hated when people weren't on time. Eventually, the doors hissed open to reveal Shiro carrying a barely conscious Lance. Everyone in the room gasped at the sight. 

"We need to get him in a cyropod, now!" Shiro demanded, pushing through the small group. Coran was already on it, preparing once for the sick Paladin straight away. At least Coran understood what Lance needed.

"My goodness, what happened?" Allura asked, hand rested gently over her mouth. Shiro scowled and turned to face the Altean, his blood boiling. 

"He collapsed. You overworked him and ignored it. This could seriously be a problem, Allura!" Shiro rarely ever called Allura by her name; it had always been Princess, unless she really got on his last nerves. For once, Allura actually seemed guilty about the harm she caused the Paladins. 

"Maybe I did go too rough on him. He can heal in the pod. Once he is out, we need him back to training." Allura spoke, tucking a strand of her silver-white hair behind her ear. 

"You must be joking right now, Allura. Can you not see what Shiro is trying to tell you? Lance is unwell. He needs time." Keith spoke up from behind, leant against the wall. Shiro shot him a thankful smile; as much as the Red and Blue Paladin bickered, they did care for one another. 

"Keith, there is no need for you to interrupt." Allura sounded more annoyed than before; this was clearly getting to her. 

"Yes, there is! That is our teammate in there, unable to do anything because he has been worked to the bone!" Keith howled, his brows knitted together in rage. Allura simply huffed and left the room in a strop; you never know what you're going to get from a Princess. 

The team turned to face Lance, who was now in the cyropod. It hurt to see him in there; he'd been in there more than anyone else of this team. It made everyone anxious that there could be a deeper problem that the cyropod couldn't fix. Coran told them he wouldn't be in there too long, since it was only a minor injury. A few hours at most. 

-

Shiro stayed sat by the cyropod until Lance was able to come out. When he was ready, Shiro was there to help him get back on his own two feet again. Hopefully, Allura would allow Lance some rest time after this. Lance took a few seconds to come back around fully again, but he was confused as to what had happened to him.

"What happened?" Lance mumbled, his voice croaky and weak. Shiro held him up, keeping him on his feet. He decided it would be best to sit him down for now, so that is what he did.

"You collapsed after training. You had us all worried sick, Lance. You need rest," Shiro spoke softly as to not startle the half-asleep Paladin next to him. A small 'oh' from Lance is all that he got in response. "Take it easy, please. You're valuable to us."

"I doubt that is what anyone else thinks. I'm more replaceable than anyone else in this team." Lance grumbled, resting his head in his hands. Shiro let out a sigh, resting his hand on Lance's back, gently rubbing soothing circles into his skin. It seemed to relax the Cuban boy a little. 

"None of us think that. You're the Blue Paladin. Blue chose you for a reason. You were the first to connect with your lion. If not for you, I think we would all be bored out our brains. No one can crack a better joke than you, Lance. You truly are an amazing paladin, please don't think badly of yourself." Shiro had never been the type to be able to cheer someone up or give an amazing speech of sorts. Although, he did manage to crack a smile from his friend. 

"Thanks, Shiro."

-

A few days had passed since Lance got out the cyropod. He managed to get back up on his feet okay and his cheery self seemed to be coming back, bit by bit. Shiro was glad to see their Blue Paladin coming back to them again. He was proud of Lance. However, he barely had any time to recover before Allura had them sent out to destroy an enemy Galra ship heading towards an alien planet. Shiro wasn't sure Lance would be able to carry himself through it all. 

The mission had started off well; they had all managed to sneak onto the ship fine. They had to locate the control room of the ship and plant a bomb, which would explode when a button was pressed, meaning they would have time to get out safely. Shiro stuck with Lance to make sure he got along fine, even with Lance's protests. Keith went his own way and Hunk went with Pidge. Those two would be able to help guide them through the ship once they found the correct room.

"Lance, are you sure you can do this?" Shiro asked, stopping the Blue Paladin in his tracks. Lance nodded, a determined grin slapped across his face. It gave Shiro some sort of hope that he would truly make it through this.

"You need to stop worrying about me, Shiro. I'll be just fine!" Lance laughed, poking his head around the corner to check for any Galra soldiers in the upcoming corridors. "You know, this always reminds me of horror games; dark light hallways, not knowing where your next enemy may lie, complete and utter silence."

"There isn't much silence with how much you chatter." Shiro joked, causing Lance to give him a playful scowl in return. "My side is clear, how about yours?"

"Same here. Ready?" The two of them silently crept out into the hallways, keeping a close eye on their surroundings. Galra soldiers could come from either side of them, not leaving them much room in case they needed to escape. 

Lance had his gun at the ready, just in case anyone were to attack them. Shiro was prepared too; he always was. It seemed eerily quiet for a Galra ship of this size. Where were all the soldiers? They turned the next corner, not expecting there to be a group of three waiting for them. 

"Shiro, watch out!" Lance cried out, throwing himself in front of his fellow Paladin and managing to push him out the way. Unfortunately, Lance caught the blow of the guard's sword, but he had other things to worry about right now. He couldn't let this injury slow him down, even if the pain was agonising. The injury was on the right side of his abdomen and it wasn't just a simple cut. 

"Thank you, Lance." Shiro breathed, quickly scrambling to his feet and taking out the three Galra soldiers in front of them. Lance managed to stumble to his feet, managing to hide the pain he was in. The two of them rushed off to find the room they needed; neither of them had heard from Pidge or Hunk yet. Hopefully, they would be able to find the control room themselves. It shouldn't be too hard, right? 

"We have to find this control room ourselves, Shiro. I doubt Pidge or Hunk will get there in time." Lance shouted to his friend, the two of them rushing down the corridors to try and find the control room. 

Lance was right; the control room wasn't hard to find at all. Unfortunately, it was filled with Galra soldiers, meaning that it wasn't going to be an easy fight. Shiro signalled to Lance that he would sneak in and take out a few himself and that Lance could stay there and take out a few if needed. Lance nodded, secretly thankful he wouldn't have to move about. With every move he made, the wound he had sustained felt like it was ripping open even more. He knew this was serious and he needed help, yet he wasn't about to let his team down. Shiro snuck in behind the first Galra and took him out no problem, none of the others suspecting a thing.

On the second one, another soldier noticed and went to shoot at Shiro, only for Lance to take him out seconds before he could shoot. This alerted the others in the room and the two sprung into action, Lance shooting from where he was positioned and Shiro taking out the few he had. There were sure to be more on the way after that so they had to move fast to do what they needed. 

"Lance, once this bomb is planted, we need to hurry back," Shiro instructed, making sure he was on guard in case any more Galra decided to join them. Lance nodded, taking in a deep breath as he began to set up the explosive on the underside of the control desk. It didn't take long and it was only small, but this weapon was deadly beyond belief. Lance nodded to Shiro once he was done, and Shiro alerted the others through his headset. "Guys, we've set the bomb. We need to get out, now!"

The two Paladins rushed back through the halls of the ship, not wanting to get caught up in the blast of the bomb.  Lance began falling behind due to the slash in his abdomen. Quite frankly he was bleeding out and needed serious medical attention quickly. They met the others in the halls and the five of them headed back together. As soon as they were all in their lions, Lance pressed the button he'd been given and the Galra ship exploded into tiny fragments. The rest of the Paladins were cheering, Lance could hear them over the intercom in his lion.

Blue purred underneath Lance, sensing that he was injured. He simply let out a low laugh, his hand rested over his bloody wound. Blue knew that if Lance didn't get back to the ship soon, he would bleed out and die. After last time, that's the last thing she wanted. 

"It's okay Blue, I'm okay." Lance coughed, a sharp pain searing through his stomach. Everything was starting to go fuzzy around him. None of the others knew that he was injured. What if they got back to the castle and Lance was dead? Would they care?

-

Once back at the castle, the Paladin's left their lions and gathered in the hanger. Lance was the last out his lion. The four of them rushed over to him to congratulate him for successfully destroying a large enemy ship.

"Well done Lance. I'm so proud you did that," Shiro grinned proudly at his fellow Paladin. Lance managed to smile back before yet another sharp pain had him doubled over in pain, catching everyone off guard. He pressed his hand up against his wound, his eyes squeezed shut in absolute agony. "Lance, what's wrong?"

Lance slowly removed his hand from the wound, his hand soaked in blood, only visible due to the bright light in the room. The Blue Paladin looked up at Shiro, his eyes pleading for him to get help. Shiro yelled something to one of the others, yet Lance was unsure of what it was. Pidge ran off down the hall. Everything was blurry and fuzzy. Nothing made sense. Lance felt ready to die if that was the case. The last thing Lance could clearly remember was Shiro holding him, his eyes brimming with tears, gently whispering " _Hold on,_ " to Lance, over and over again.

-

Lance had only just gotten out of the cyropod and here he was, back in it, on the verge of death. If Shiro had just seen that damn soldier, Lance wouldn't be in this situation. The Black Paladin had refused to leave the pod's side yet again, worrying all the others. They were deemed safe for now, but as Allura always reminded them, they could be attacked at any moment. She didn't even remotely care that Lance was practically clinging onto his own life at this very moment. To her, Lance was just a replaceable object that was of no use to her.  

"Shiro, you can't stay here and wait for him," Allura whined, not overly happy that Shiro refused to train at the moment. Shiro just scowled at her, a silent warning for her to leave. "He should have been watching what he was doing."

"He saved my life, Allura!" Shiro bellowed, rising from where he was sat. He could not take this anymore. How dare Allura have the nerve to belittle Lance when he was fighting for his life right in front of her very eyes. "He jumped in front of me because he thought I was more important to save. He jumped in front of me because he thought he could easily be replaced if he was killed!"

"Well that is his own fault, isn't it?! Lance is a Paladin of Voltron and that is what Paladins do! if it wasn't for me he wouldn't even be a Paladin in the first place!"

"If it wasn't for you, Lance wouldn't have thrown himself in front of me to save me. If you had just stopped pressuring him to be like everyone else, maybe he'd be alright right now!" Shiro felt like he was about to combust from how enraged he felt at the Princess. he didn't care whether or not he hurt her feelings; he wanted her to feel guilty about what she had done. Allura once again stormed out the room seconds later. 

-

It had been nearly a week since the incident and Coran had told Shiro that Lance was nearly fully healed and should be out anytime soon. Shiro was waiting anxiously by the cyropod, any minute now. Every second that ticked by seemed to get longer and longer. 

Then he heard the sound. the sound of the cyropod opening up. It was a sweet melody to his ears that he had longed for every day since Lance was put in there. He was swift to scramble to his feet, his heart racing in his chest. He could not wait any longer to tell Lance how thankful he was for what he did. 

Lance stepped out and wobbled a little, trying his best to get back to his feet. He rested a hand on his forehead and blinked open his eyes, the harsh light a little too bright for him. The first thing Lance saw when he stepped out from the pod was Shiro, practically bouncing up and down on the spot waiting for him. 

"Shiro?" Was all Lance managed to mutter before the Black Paladin had scooped him up in his arms, spinning him around in utter joy. It was all still a bit fuzzy, yet Lance managed to let himself laugh, wrapping his arms around Shiro's neck in a gentle embrace. Once Lance had been returned to his feet, Shiro began spewing out everything he'd be wanting to say.

"Oh God, Lance. Lance, you're alive! I can't believe you were so stupid as to save me like that, you're so stupid! You had me worried sick, don't you ever do anything like that again. Promise me?" Shiro was speaking quick and rushed, Lance only managing to capture half of it.

"Hey, slow down. I'm okay, I promise you. I'm here." Lance chuckled, seconds later being yanked into yet another hug from Shiro. It felt nice to be appreciated by someone in the team. 

"Don't ever risk your life to save mine again, okay? I don't want to lose you, you mean far too much to me. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you'd died for me." Shiro spoke slower and clearer this time. Lance grinned and nodded, his heart swelling with love. 

"Hey, I'd risk my life to save my hero any day of the year. You're far more important than I am." Lance tried to smile through his sentence, but Shiro knew him so much better than that. 

"No, Lance. Don't ever say that about yourself. you're everything to me and to this team. We need you here. We'd fall apart if you weren't here with us. You're the glue that holds us all together." Shiro frowned, his heart-shattering at the thought of Lance thinking lowly of himself. 

"Shiro, it's just sad fact. I'm a burden to this-" Lance was cut off mid-sentence by Shiro unexpectedly kissing him. Shiro's hand rested in the dip of Lance's back, holding him close as the two shared this tender moment. Even though it had caught Lance by surprise, he quickly sunk into the kiss, his hands coming up to rest on Shiro's shoulders. The kiss was short and sweet, but Shiro was sure it got the message across.

"If you ever talk bad about yourself again, I'll have to shut you up." Shiro mumbled, causing both of them to quietly laugh. 

"Guess I'll have to talk bad about myself more often then, huh?"

-

Lance and Shiro went back to Shiro's room that night and lay in bed together. Shiro told Lance all the things he had missed. He explained to him that everyone was worried sick about him. Pidge couldn't focus, Hunk wouldn't eat, even Keith kept messing up during training. Lance kept apologising for hindering everyone whilst he was out, but every time Shiro would hush him and tell him it was alright.

The two of them were tucked under the covers, both shirtless due to how hot it was in the room. Lance had his head rested on Shiro's chest, gently tracing small shapes on Shiro's warm, scar-covered skin. The scars fascinated Lance; they looked so pretty, yet every single one of them told a different story of his past. Now Lance had one of his own; a light patch of skin across the right side of his abdomen. 

"Scars are weird," Lance mumbled, running his finger over a few of Shiro's. Shiro pressed a subtle kiss to Lance's hair, letting out a short sigh.

"They are, but they show we're alive. They show we made it through tough times and lived to tell the tale." Shiro ran his hand through Lance's hair, earning a hum of pleasure from the Cuban boy. 

"Shiro?" Lance asked, sitting himself up from where he had been laying. Shiro raised a brow and perched himself up on his elbows.

"Is everything okay?"Shiro responded, wondering what Lance was going to ask him now. "Lance, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing is wrong. I'm just wondering something," Shiro stayed silent when Lance paused, allowing him to continue on. "Why me?"

"Why you what? Oh, why you, huh? Well, you're gorgeous, you're funny yet you let yourself be sad when you need. You're incredibly strong, physically and mentally. I'm so incredibly proud of you for what you have achieved. Need I go on?"

Lance shook his head, a smile radiating off his face. He shuffled back down under the covers and cuddled right up next to Shiro. 

Maybe Lance had one bad day. Maybe he had one hundred. As long as he had Shiro by his side, he knew that he could work through them. He knew he was loved and that made him feel more complete than ever.


End file.
